Latest revision as of 18:17, 28 August 2012

The Navier-Stokes equations are the basic governing equations for a viscous, heat conducting fluid. It is a vector equation obtained by applying Newton's Law of Motion to a fluid element and is also called the momentum equation. It is supplemented by the mass conservation equation, also called continuity equation and the energy equation. Usually, the term Navier-Stokes equations is used to refer to all of these equations.

Equations (1)-(9), supplemented with gas data for , , and perhaps , form a closed set of partial differential equations, and need only be complemented with boundary conditions.

Boundary conditions

Derivation

Derivation of continuity equation

A fundamental laws of Newtonian mechanics states the conservation of mass in an arbitrary material control volume varying in time .

A material volume contains the same portions of a fluid at all times. It may be defined by a closed bounding surface eneveloping a portion of a fluid at certain time. Fluid elements cannot enter or leave this control volume.
The movement of every point on the surface is defined by the local velocity . So one can define:

Applying the Reynolds transport theorem and divergence theorem one obtains:

Since this relation is valid for an arbitrary volume , the integrand must be zero. Note that now it can easily be assumed that the volume is a fixed control volume (where fluid particles can freely enter and leave the volume) by taking account of mass fluxes through the surface .

Thus

(1)

at all points of the fluid.
For an incompressible fluid the change rate of density is zero. One can simplify (1) to:

Derivation of momentum equations

All is started from Newton's law:

FORCE is equal MASS time ACCELERATION

(2)

and which is applied to the fluid parsel

Expansion, rotation and deformation of a fluid parsel

forces and stresses

(2)

(3)

where

- mass force per volume unit

- surface force per volume unit

(4)

There are two types of forces: body(mass) forces and surface forces. Body forces act on the entire control volume. The most common body force is that due to gravity. Electromagnetic phenomena may also create body forces, but this is a rather specialized situation.

Surface forces act on only surface of a control volume at a time and arise due to pressure or viscous stresses.

We find a general expression for the surface force per unit volume of a deformable body. Consider a rectangular parallelepiped with sides and hence with volume

At the moment we assume this parallelepiped isolated from the rest of the fluid flow , and consider the forces acting on the faces of the parallelepiped.

Let the left forward top of a parallelepiped lies in a point O

To both faces of the parallelepiped perpendicular to the axis and having the area applied resulting stresses , equal to and respectively

So we have

for - direction

for - direction

for - direction

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

The force due to the stress is the product of the stress and the area over which it acts.

(10)

(11)

(12)

(13)

(14)

deformation and rotation

(15)

(16)

(18)

(19)

(20)

(21)

(11)

(22)

Newtonian Fluids

Newton came up with the idea of requiring the stress to be linearly proportional to the time rate at which at which strain occurs. Specifically he studied the following problem. There are two flat plates separated by a distance . The top plate is moved at a velocity , while the bottom plate is held fixed.

Newton postulated (since then experimentally verified) that the shear force or shear stress needed to deform the fluid was linearly proportional to the velocity gradient:

(2)

The proportionality factor turned out to be a constant at moderate temperatures, and was called the coefficient of viscosity, . Furthermore, for this particular case, the velocity profile is linear, giving .

Therefore, Newton postulated:

(2)

Fluids that have a linear relationship between stress and strain rate are called Newtonian fluids. This is a property of the fluid, not the flow. Water and air are examples of Newtonian fluids, while blood is a non-Newtonian fluid.

Stokes Hypothesis

Stokes extended Newton's idea from simple 1-D flows (where only one component of velocity is present) to multidimensional flows. He developed the following relations, collectively known as Stokes relations

(12)

(12)

(12)

(12)

(12)

(12)

The quantity is called molecular viscosity, and is a function of temperature.

The coefficient was chosen by Stokes so that the sum of the normal stresses , and are zero.

Then

(12)

substitution

(12)

Other formulation

Cauchy's equation of motion

(14)

The equation of motion for a Newtonian fluid is obtained by constitutive equation into Cauchy's equation to obtain

(14)

where is the strain rate tensor

(15)

If the temperature differences are small within the fluid, then can be taken outside the derivative, which then reduces to

(16)

where

(16)

is the Laplasian of . For incompressible fluids , and using vector notation, the incompressible Navier-Stokes equation reduces to

(16)

If the viscous effects are negligible, we obtain the Euler equation

(16)

Derivation of the energy equation

we follow Wesseling (2001)

By applying the first law of thermodynamics to a material volume we find

(2)

with the total energy per unit mass

(2)

Furthermore, is the rate of work expended by the surroundings on the fluid in , and is the rate of heat addition

(2)

(2)

Assuming that heat is added to each material particle at a rate per unit of mass, and that there is a heat flux per unit of area through we find

(2)

Let heat diffusion be governed by Fourier's law:

(2)

with the thermal conductivity, and the tempereture, which is another state variable. Using the divergence theorem we find

(2)

By application of the transport theorem and substitution we obtain

(2)

Since this holds for every , we have

(2)

Existence and uniqueness

The existence and uniqueness of classical solutions of the 3-D Navier-Stokes equations is still an open mathematical problem and is one of the Clay Institute's Millenium Problems. In 2-D, existence and uniqueness of regular solutions for all time have been shown by Jean Leray in 1933. He also gave the theory for the existence of weak solutions in the 3-D case while uniqueness is still an open question.

History

Claude Louis Marie Henri Navier’s name is associated with the famous Navier-Stokes equations that govern motion of a viscous fluid. He derived the Navier-Stokes equations in a paper in 1822. His derivation was however based on a molecular theory of attraction and repulsion between neighbouring molecules. Euler had already derived the equations for an ideal fluid in 1755 which did not include the effects of viscosity. Navier did not recognize the physical significance of viscosity and attributed the viscosity coefficient to be a function of molecular spacing.

The equations of motion were rederived by Cauchy in 1828 and by Poisson in 1829. In 1843 Barre de Saint-Venant published a derivation of the equations that applied to both laminar and turbulent flows. However the other person whose name is attached with Navier is the Irish mathematician-physicist George Gabriel Stokes. In 1845 he published a derivation of the equations in a manner that is currently understood.